Collaboration

Collaboration with iGEM headquarters

In
addition to
the usual team collaborations, we communicated with the iGEM
headquarters and
pointed out that we had difficulties with the pSB1C3 plasmid vector
sequence. A
restriction digest of the backbone yielded more fragments than
expected.
Therefore we sequenced the whole backbone and found 7 mutations.
Although the
vector replicated fine and the antibiotic resistance was functional, we
feared potential
future problems and sent the correct sequence to the iGEM headquarters.
Based
on these findings iGEM headquarters introduced versioning of the
plasmid
backbones and our pSB1C3 was named pSB1C3_001.

Mutations in the pSB1C3 backbone:

Collaboration with the iGEM 2010 Team
ESBS-Strasbourg

We established a collaboration with the iGEM 2010
Team ESBS-Strasbourg, who asked for our assembled Biobricks of YFP and
CFP
cloned into the standard pSB1C3 backbone. We sent out the plasmids so
that they
could use and test the plasmids for their cloning purposes. To expand
our
collaboration, the Strasbourg team visited us at our laboratory. Both
teams
made a presentation of their project and exchanged impressions and
ideas about
iGEM and the daily laboratory work. After that, we spent time together
having a
nice barbecue.

Collaboration with
the iGEM
2010 Team Freiburg Software

The Software Team Freiburg programmed Add-on robots
for many applications and could offer us some useful features for our
cloning
approaches. One of them is for example a primer designer. The primers
are
designed by choosing the melting temperature and the binding site of
the
template sequence. The robot finally creates the sequence of the
forward primer
(Primer 1) and the reverse Primer (Primer 2). Furthermore, the Software
Team
supported us in the design and coding of our homepage. In return, our
team helped
with information about biological interests and cloning procedures and
organized the t-shirts and the trip to Boston.

Example for the functioning of the primer designer
robot:

Collaboration with the iGEM 2010 Team Stockholm

The iGEM Team Stockholm 2010 was interested in using the
Freiburg standard 25 and contacted us in order to get information about
cloning
vectors from our stocks concerning the three pSB1X3-derived
BBa_J18901-3
plasmids, as well as the pMA (-BBRF) vector (BBa_K157000) available in
the
Registry. We made the advice that the Freiburg iGEM 2009 team last year
used
the pMA vector for almost all cloning steps. The plasmid is small and
delivers
high yields of plasmid DNA. In comparison to that the larger
BBa_J18901-3
plasmids carry two antibiotic resistances making the part assembly more
restricted.

Community outreach
in collaboration with BIOSS and
Europa Park

The
sience days at Europa Park take place every year making sciences
attractive for young people. Pupils of different ages take a look in
sciences by doing practical experiments and playing games.
In association with BIOSS we prepared a game for the younger kids, in
which they could actively join in. The game gives the kids an
imagination about a cells inner life by playing the role of kinases,
phosphatases and signalling proteins. In addition, we made
questionnaires and tested the knowledge of the pupils in biology.